<div align="center">

Vince Staples - Summertime '06</div>

Ramona Park Legend Pt. 1: NA/10
-A dope instrumental no doubt, but I'm not in the business of rating instrumentals. All the same, it really sets the tone nicely for the rest of disc one and the album as a whole. Dark and moody, it is a great opener.

Lift Me Up: 10/10
-"Hey, I'm just a ***** until I fill my pockets / And then I'm Mr. *****, they follow me while shoppin'" are the first words we hear on the album and from then on, Staples continues to drop dope lines all over the place, especially on this track. Lines such as, "My momma was a Christian, Crip walkin' on blue-waters", "A prophet just like Moses, if Moses look like Shaka / Zulu, my .44 loaded, I'm aimin' at Nirvana / My bitch look like Madonna, they starin' at katana", and "Is dead and green, was standin' on this mezzanine in Paris, France / Feel despairs cause most my homies never finna get this chance". This track features Mr. Staples gleefully rhyming any words he can find "dead and green" and "mezzanine" is pretty dope as a rhyme. Featuring incredible rhyme schemes throughout, a dope flow and delivery, and a pretty good hook, "Lift Me Up" is one hell of a track.

Norf Norf: 10/10
-Nothing warms my heart more than a Clams Casino beat. This one does not disappoint in the least. Vince Staples' flow on this beat should be illegal it is so smooth. The only dude in the game with as good of a flow is A$AP Rocky, honestly. The cool part with Staples is that he takes his silky smooth flow and adds some dope lyrics. All three verses are dope, but this portion from verse two stood out the most to me, "Folks need Porsches, hoes need abortions / I just need y'all out of my business / Never no problem, playin' no pitches / Never no problem, sprayin' no witnesses / No face, no case, been wit' the shit / Hopped out broad day then emptied clips / Cut class cause it wasn't 'bout cash / School wasn't no fun, couldn't bring my gun". The combo of the dope beat, great lyrics from Vince Staples, and a disgusting flow, this one continues what seems incredibly promising so far.

Birds & Bees (ft. Daley): 7/10
-Ok, so the hook on this one is incredibly weak. Thus far, the hooks have not ruined the tracks, though they have all been sub-par compared to the rest of the song. Luckily, Vince Staples continues to light the world ablaze on this track. Like the tracks proceeding it, this one is littered with great lines, such as, "I shot your child, so what, you know we wildin' after dark / The sun come down and guns come out, you know Ramona Park". Unfortunately, since this one is so short, we only get one verse from Vince and the track is dominated by an oddly placed bridge and a poor hook, bringing the overall song quality down.

Loca: 8/10
-Son cannot write a hook to save his life, I swear to God. I hate hooks that have repeating lines and man, that's all Mr. Staples can pump out. However, again (I sound like a broken record now, I know), his flow and lyrics save him. Here, bars such as, "Get to purrin' when that liquor get to burnin' / Get it crackin', why you actin' like a virgin? / Where it come from, mama or the surgeon? / You paid for it, did you pray for it? Get twerkin'" and "Girl, you lookin' like somethin' out of King / Magazine, fifteen in the magazine / Hope a ***** don't run up tweakin' / I'm tryna to have a good time this evening" really stand out. His wordplay and rhyming are incredible and he really does these things with reckless abandon.

Lemme Know (ft. Jhene Aiko & DJ Dahi): 7/10
-Jhene Aiko comes down from heaven and takes a break from having her booty eaten like groceries to grace this track with her beautiful vocals. Sadly, this one is just not working for me. Featuring a decent hook from DJ Dahi, the first two verses have Vince Staples and Jhene Aiko delivering the same verse at the same time, which has a cool effect sonically. When Vince gets the stage to himself in the third verse, he definitely makes the most of it with some dope lines like, "Soon as you walk up in the room, take ya clothes off / Bed to the floor, baby you know how it go / Nothing less and nothing more than what we make it / Consummating for a long time 'til the condom breakin'". Also, the line, "Cause you hit this shit once I know you gon' be in love with me" from Jhene is most likely true, no lie. The thirst is too real. Overall, this track is nothing special. Like I said, having Vince and Jhene deliver the verses at the same time is pretty cool, but I don't know, this one just feels like it didn't need to be here. Story-wise it makes sense though and I'll probably not skip it if it comes up on Spotify, so I'm pretty content in spite of that.

Dopeman (ft. Joey Fatts & Kilo Kish): 5/10
-Kilo Kish delivers a breathy hook on this track that stands as the highlight here. Vince drops his first bad verse of the album here as his verse about drugs does absolutely nothing for me. Overall, this one is the definition of weak. Thank God it is so short.

Jump off the Roof (ft. Snoh Aalegra): 10/10
-And just like that, we are back, folks. Featuring an incredible verse from Vince Staples and the best hook Vince has written to this point of the album, this one is back on track. I was about to quote my favorite line, but it would be easier to just refer you to his first verse. The second verse is dope as well, but that first verse is something special. My mother always asked me, "So if INSERT FRIEND'S NAME HERE told you to jump off a roof, you would jump?" I now know the answer: "Yes, mother. Vince Staples told me to, so I must."

Senorita: 9/10
-The single that caught my attention immediately, Vince Staples drops some absolutely incredible verses in between an annoyingly present hook from Future. The video for this one is also quite the trip, but ignoring that, Staples brings an incredible flow and drops some of the best verses on the album. The beat is great and the only thing stopping this one from being "perfect" is the hook and the fact that the verses are not longer. His verses, as they are, are damn near perfection though so I cannot complain too much. As with the previous track, no quotes this time because it would just be both verses and you can just look up the lyrics yourself.

Summertime: 9/10
-The second of three beats provided by Clams Casino, this one is equally as dope as the previous one. Featuring some rap-singing from Vince with altered vocals, I love what he is saying, such as, "Hold my hand let me take you to the land / Where the ocean and the sands are meetin' / Look at the sun, all we need to see to know our freedom / Open up your heart, if we don't love then we fall apart / This could be forever, baby, I never seen you wetter, baby / Then when the tears fall soakin' up your sweater, baby" and "Hope you understand, they never taught me how to be a man / Only how to be a shooter, I only need the time to prove it". His delivery here is great and you can really hear the emotion in his voice on this track. There is no way to not love this one, honestly, even if the altered vocals are not great, this one just really hits you. Oh and the lyrics are awesome.

Ramona Park Legend Pt. 2: NA/10
-"When I die build a shrine on my side of the town if it's cool". This one is not long enough for me to rate, but is dope nonetheless. Just as Part One was a great intro the disc one and the album as a whole, this one is a dope intro to disc two. Vince knows how to start off hot.

3230: 10/10
-"Another day in sunny California / The FEDs takin' pictures and they tappin' Motorolas / Everybody snitchin', gotta live with paranoia / A soldier since the stroller, ask my mama if you doubt that / Homie where ya clout at? You ain't ever push nobody's scalp back". Damn. Vince goes in on this track with just a brief interlude breaking up the two verses and thank God for that. Given his hook history, I am glad this one is hookless, especially since the verses are so dope. Like, look at these closing bars, "Dollar and a dream, at night time we maskin' up / The deadly game of tag, the older generations passed to us / I got a clip that's long enough to shoot until the casket come / Wait until that casket drop, they droppin' when that magnum pop". Just awesome. Great lyrics, flow, and delivery, Staples hits this one out of the park.

Surf (ft. Kilo Kish): 8/10
-Another breathy and haunting hook delivered here by Kilo Kish, it is sandwiched between a pair of strong verses from Vince Staples. Though not his best on the album, his flow and delivery are still killer and the verse themselves are, again, strong. Standout lines here include, "How you black sellin' crack for the white man? / How you real, wouldn't kill for your right hand?" and "In the planned parenthood playin' God with ya mom's check, you ain't even been to prom yet / Sixteen, heard you wanna be a star girl / What he charge for the dream that you bought girl / What's the price for a life in this dark world?". Good stuff.

Might Be Wrong (ft. Haneef Talib): NA/10
-Oh that hidden feature from James Fauntleroy and Cocaine 80s. God are they dope. Great hook here finally. This one is largely just Haneef Talib speaking and is definitely worth a listen. All the same, this one does not get a rating.

Get Paid (ft. Desi Mo): 7/10
-The second single from the album, my first impression when I first listened was, "Dope stuff, but my Lord is the hook ass". My opinion is unchanged in that regard. Luckily, the verses here are very good and I like the way Desi Mo is used on the track. Good lyrics, such as, "Lemme tell you what the OGs told us / Money over bitches, keep your head on your shoulders / Pussy leave a lot of niggas dead if you notice / Big booty cuties be the coldest, cobras". I really love his delivery of those lines and a few others on this track. His flow continues to be good as well on this one. Overall, not the strongest track here, but still a good one.

Street Punks: 8/10
-"Tryna be the only Crippin' ***** sitting in the Vogue / Better put me on the cover, undercovers at my home / Tryna catch a ***** slippin', but I'm stickin' to the flow / Heard these niggas flippin' coke, why the fuck these niggas broke? / If it's shooters in the squad, what's the bodyguard for?". An absolutely bumping beat from No I.D. (who did much of the album) and bars like that? Yes please. Though the hook is pretty weak, it is not the worst one on the album and the beat bumps something different. The star here has to be that beat, which absolutely slams and then Vince rides it very, very well.

Hang N’ Bang (ft. A$ton Matthews): 3/10
-Featuring a very bad hook and verses from Vince and A$ton Matthews continually broken up by the repeating phrase "that's true". Overall, this one has to be the weakest song here. Though the beat is nice, I am just feeling this one in the least. I do not like the verses that much and like I said, the hook is hot garbage.

C.N.B.: 5/10
-"The sheets and crosses turned to suits and ties". Tell us how you really feel there Mr. Staples. The hook on this one is alright and then the verses have their moments, but I do not know, maybe I am burned out by this point or something, but I am just not feeling it. It feels all over the place and oddly cluttered. It is better than the last track for sure, but it just falls flat for the most part.

Like It Is: 8/10
-The beat here from No I.D. is incredibly unique to be sure and I really like what Vince is saying on this one. The return of good lyrics, flow, and delivery. Hell, even the hook is good here. The interludes are good, introspective pieces of this song, and really well placed. The lyrics here also have moments of brilliance, such as, "Do doves cry when the black man dies, or do we croak with crows / The young catch gun shots, the old catch the holy ghost" and "I been through hell and back, I seen my momma cry / Seen my father hit the crack then hit the set to flip a sack / I done seen my homies die then went on rides to kill 'em back". Overall, as the last true song, this one is a strong ending and luckily brings us back to good songs just in the time for the album to end.

'06: NA/10

124/160 -> 7.75/10

Vince Staples' debut album is quite the accomplishment for sure. After a great EP at the end of the last year in Hell Can Wait and some great verses before that on Earl Sweatshirt projects, as well as others, Vince certainly had my attention. Much of that potential pays off here, though so did many of my fears. My main fear being that he would just be a guy who drops hot verses and could not carry a whole song himself, let alone a whole project. While most of the songs here do not fall victim to this possibility, some do. He cannot write a hook to save his life and though this album is incredibly ambitious, it feels a bit bloated and overlong with some tracks winding up being filler. Though you do have to admire the incredible ambition he shows on this album. At the peak, this album is introspective, socially aware, and incredible crafted. This is evident on tracks such as, "Lift Me Up", "Norf Norf", "Jump Off the Roof", "Senorita", "Summertime", and "3230". At its worst, the songs feel cluttered and boring, such as "Dopeman", "Hang N Bang", and "CNB". The first disc of this album also blows away the second disc, leaving a sour taste in the mouth of the listener, as though I really dug the album, I feel disappointed by the end due to the poor second half. Luckily, there are some seriously killer tracks here that are some of the strongest songs on any album in the first half of 2015. Vince Staples' debut finds him dropping phenomenal verses throughout, great rhymes, killer wordplay, and a great combo of flow and delivery, though it also finds him struggling to remain consistent with those positives. The sky is the limit for him and I for one hope to see him take the positives from this debut and build on them, while fixing his flaws on his sophomore effort.